Five favorite Southern food restaurants in Palm Beach County

Voodoo Bayou's chicken and waffles plate is a customer favorite at the New Orleans-inspired restaurant at Downtown Palm Beach Gardens.
Voodoo Bayou's chicken and waffles plate is a customer favorite at the New Orleans-inspired restaurant at Downtown Palm Beach Gardens.

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Saturday is National Southern Food Day. If just reading that sentence stirs a craving for the good food of the South, you may want to glimpse our restaurant cheat sheet, below.

And before you pick up that fried chicken drumstick, consider your options. You have quite a few. Here are five favorite Southern restaurants ready to fix your cravings.

The Regional Kitchen

The Regional's executive chef/co-owner Lindsay Autry chats with chef de cuisine Mario Beabraut.
The Regional's executive chef/co-owner Lindsay Autry chats with chef de cuisine Mario Beabraut.

Recently reopened with refreshed digs and more elevated dishes, the Regional is the city’s centerpiece Southern restaurant. Chef/co-owner Lindsay Autry, who takes inspiration from her North Carolina roots as well as her global travels, does make some mean sweet tea-brined, fried chicken thighs. They’re on the menu, along with classics like pimento cheese and tomato pie. But for something more unique, try her take on shrimp and grits – cornmeal-dusted Florida pink shrimp served with creamy popcorn grits and pickled jalapeño in a barbecue shrimp broth.

The Regional:651 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach

Sassafras

On the menu at Sassafras in West Palm Beach, the Foie Gras and Black Truffle Glizzy is a modern Southern take on a classic French sausage.
On the menu at Sassafras in West Palm Beach, the Foie Gras and Black Truffle Glizzy is a modern Southern take on a classic French sausage.

This hip Southern restaurant, which opened just months before the pandemic, takes a folklorist approach to its menu, thanks to executive chef John Thomas. His dishes are thoughtful, soulful and often pure fun. Case in point: Sassafras’ Foie Gras + Black Truffle Glizzy, “glizzy” being slang for hot dog. Craving something more typically Southern? There’s gumbo, chicken and dumplings and fried chicken on the menu, too. (

Sassafras: 105 S. Narcissus Ave., West Palm Beach

Big John’s Eatery

The oxtail and grits bowl is served on weekends at Big John's Eatery in suburban West Palm Beach, where brunch is served all day.
The oxtail and grits bowl is served on weekends at Big John's Eatery in suburban West Palm Beach, where brunch is served all day.

How about a Southern-soul brunch that’s served daily? This is the place. The menu at John and Sasha LeJeune’s suburban West Palm eatery will tempt you with fresh biscuits and gravy, peach cobbler French toast, shrimp po’ boys and other decadent dishes. They serve the diner’s most popular dish on Saturdays and Sundays: Sasha’s oxtail and grits, a hefty bowl that brings together her love of oxtail and John’s love of grits. A touch of pan gravy and sprinkling of scallions complete the love dish.

Big John's Eatery: 100 Sansburys Way, Suite 100, steps from Dick’s Sporting Goods in The Shoppes at Southern Palms, West Palm Beach

Voodoo Bayou

Voodoo Bayou is located at Downtown at the Gardens.
Voodoo Bayou is located at Downtown at the Gardens.

This Southern-Cajun restaurant has become a celebration-worthy spot for reasons beyond its jazzy, New Orleans-themed interiors. The dishes pop with bold flavors and creative takes. Don’t miss the spicy Gumbo Ya Ya, the addictive buttermilk biscuits with honey butter and jalapeño-pear jam and, yes, the Louisiana-style fried chicken with hot honey.

Voodoo Bayou: 11701 Lake Victoria Gardens Ave., at Downtown Palm Beach Gardens plaza


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Majestic Ash Lounge & Southern Spice

Northwood Village is home to this gathering spot that serves a popular Sunday brunch (11 a.m. to 3 p.m..) on the patio, bottomless mimosas and all. Dinner is served on other nights (except for Monday), and the Southern Spice menu is thoroughly Southern soul: pecan praline salmon, shredded oxtail and grits, ribs served with smoked-turkey collard greens, plus Southern fried chicken and red-velvet waffles. Most of those dishes are served at weekend brunch as well with a few additions, like deep-fried snapper fillet over cheesy grits and pecan praline French toast.

Majestic Ash Lounge: 407 Northwood Rd., just west of North Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach

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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Top Southern restaurants in West Palm, Gardens, includes Voodoo Bayou